More wet weather forecast to end 2012

Stormy showers expected to ring in 2013 after one of the wettest years in history in Britain

Flooded road in Upavon, England, after the river Avon burst its banks on 24 December 2012. The south-west has been badly affected, causing major disruption to the rail network. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Thursday 27 December 2012 04.53 EST
First published on Thursday 27 December 2012 04.53 EST

A wet and stormy weekend could mark the end of one of the wettest years in history in Britain, with no respite expected for the saturated south-west.

More heavy downpours will continue on Thursday and Friday as fresh bands of rain sweep east, followed by a storm this weekend.

Sleet and snow will also fall across the north of England and southern Scotland on Thursday, with Perth receiving a few centimetres already.

Although sunshine will break through at the weekend, intermittent stormy showers will plague Britain until the new year.

It brings continued misery to the south-west, which has seen the worst of the flooding in recent days and is still subject to a Met Office severe weather warning.

The British Geological Survey has an amber landslide warning in place for the region, urging walkers to take care along coastal routes because of fears of land instability and rock fall.

A storm brewing in the Atlantic could bring up to 2in (50mm) of rain and 90mph winds in some areas this weekend.

A forecaster for MeteoGroup said: "New bands of rain will sweep across Britain from west to east today, tomorrow and Saturday, bringing some heavy showers.

"There will be some sunshine and clearer skies on Saturday but it will be a stormy weekend and noticeably wet and windy.

"Winds will reach up to 50mph in the north and west of the UK, and up to 90mph along the west coast of Scotland."

She added that some areas of the UK have had way above their average annual rainfall this year, with the south-west particularly badly hit. "It's going to be a wet and stormy end to the year," she added.

The Environment Agency has issued 109 flood warnings and 213 less serious flood alerts for the UK as the risk of flooding continues. However, the agency has removed 76 flood warnings and alerts in the last 24 hours.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has one flood alert in place around the Scottish Borders.

Rail and road networks were badly hit in the days leading up to Christmas, with a number of key routes struck by weather-related delays and National Rail warned of further disruption in the south-west on Thursday.

Post-Christmas depression was hardly lifted by the news that over-running engineering work meant there were no trains running between Paddington station in London and Heathrow airport, or between Paddington and Reading.

A very limited bus service was being laid on between the affected stations, with First Great Western advising passengers not to travel unless their journey was essential.

A late finish to platform work at Balham in south-east London also caused delays to London-bound commuters on Thursday morning.

In the Midlands, a freight train derailment at Barrow-upon-Soar meant trains were unable to call at that station and buses replaced trains between Loughborough and Barrow-upon-Soar. The derailment also led to delays to services between East Midlands Parkway and Leicester/Peterborough.

In Scotland, a broken-down train at Neilston meant no trains were able to run between Neilston and Glasgow Central, while Arriva Trains Wales reported delays between Neath and Swansea due to signalling problems.

London Midland services in the Birmingham area were also delayed on Thursday, with the company saying there were limited platforms available at Birmingham New Street after engineering work.

There were also delays to services to trains between Hereford and Worcester due to late-running engineering work.

Planned engineering work that was due to carry on was affecting services on a number of routes, while the effects of the flooding were still being felt in some areas – particularly in the West Country.

Routes still closed included Liskeard to Looe in Cornwall and Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple in Devon.

The line between Exeter St Davids and Tiverton Parkway was also shut and there was only a very limited service running between Newton Abbot and Exeter St Davids.